2024-25 Jack Adams Award Odds: Ryan Huska Is A Great Coach of the Year Darkhorse

The 2024-25 Jack Adams Award odds name Sheldon Keefe, the newly appointed New Jersey Devils head coach, as the favorite at +730.

He's a smart nod to be a favorite but it's not always the best coach that wins the NHL's Coach of the Year, it's usually the coach that orchestrates the biggest year-over-year turnaround. That makes Calgary Flames Ryan Huska the ideal candidate.

2024-25 Jack Adams Award Odds

Odds as of October 29 BET99

See Our Best NHL Betting Sites Here

2024-25 Jack Adams Award Odds Favorite

Sheldon Keefe (New Jersey Devils)

The New Jersey Devils missed the Stanley Cup playoffs by 10 points last year, Keefe's job is to get them back to the postseason. 

Keefe got a lot of support from Devils management not only with a long-term contract, but New Jersey acquired former Vezina runner-up Jacob Markstrom to tend the goal, Brett Pesce and Jonathan Kovacevic to solidify the blueline, and Stefan Noesen to add more offensive depth.

The early returns are positive for Keefe with a 6-4-2 record. If only Markstrom can shake his slow start and 0.895SV% and 3.01GAA, the Devils will cruise to the playoffs and Keefe should cruise to a Jack Adams. 

2024-25 Jack Adams Award Odds Value Picks

Keefe is the easy favorite, but I'm not so confident he should be a lock at the top of the Jack Adams odds board. Here are two value picks for you to consider.

Ryan Huska (Calgary Flames)

The expectation for the Flames this year was to bottom out, add a promising draft pick, and build the team back up slowly. However, Ryan Huska has his Flames signing a different tune with a 5-3-1 record and 0.611 points percentage.

Remember, Calagry finished the 23-24 season with a 0.494-point percentage and 17 points out of the playoffs. They also lost Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, Jacob Markstrom, and Andrew Mangiapane at the trade deadline or the offseason, that's a lot of empty slots to fill with prospects or cheap vets and yet Calgary is better than last year. 

If Calgary even so much as squeaks into the playoffs, Huska should win the Jack Adams Award.

Jon Cooper (Tampa Bay Lightning)

Jon Cooper has never won a Jack Adams award. In his 10 years with the Lightning, Cooper holds a 532-282-75 record and 1,139 points, the second-best record in that time frame. He's also won his division twice, has gone to four Stanley Cup Finals, and won two Cups.

This year Tampa is as competitive as always, even after Steven Stamkos left (getting Jake Guentzel to replace him certainly helps), Cooper has his Bolts at 6-3-0 for a 0.667 points percentage (the fifth-best in the East).

Tampa has also made the playoffs 10 times in 11 seasons under Cooper and he coached the Bolts to the fifth-best record in the NHL ever. What else does he need to do to deserve this award? At this point, if Tampa has a good season I could absolutely see voters reward Cooper and fix a massive oversight.

Previous 10 Jack Adams Award Winners 

Tocchet won the Jack Adams by transforming the Vancouver Canucks into a 109-point team in 23-24 from that 83-point side in 22-23. See what I mean? It's not always the coach that has the most success that wins. The coach whose team has the biggest turnaround year-over-year usually wins the Jack Adams.

who has won the most Jack Adams Trophies?

Pat Burns sits above the rest of the competition as the only coach to win three Jack Adams trophies, let alone with a different squad each time. With such a small amount of repeat winners, everyone on this list is cemented in NHL history as some of the best to ever lead a team.

NHL Teams with the Most Jack Adams Trophy winners   

Fun fact: the first Bruins coach to win a Jack Adams win was Don Cherry, who won in the second year of its inception. Interestingly, Jacques Demers for the Red Wings is the only coach to win twice with the same squad – every other team’s totals come from individual wins.

NHL Teams that have never had a Coach win the Jack Adams Trophy

The Rangers, an original six squad, have been in the league since 1926 and have fewer Jack Adams wins than the Vegas Golden Knights, a 2017 entrant to the NHL. Although it stings, it shows you that awards can be finicky things. Just because these teams never had an award-winning coach doesn’t mean they’ve been badly mentored.

Jack Adams Trophy Betting Trends

The Jack Adams is a tricky trophy to nail down. With few repeat winners and a chance for any high-quality team to jump ahead of the pack, it's important to keep up to date with NHL news and coaching developments across the league. Regardless, here are a few patterns the past winners have shown that might help you choose a future winner: